Brown Moses Blog: MiG-29

I've been taking a look at the various video of fixed winged aircraft spotted above Aleppo following this report by Ian Pannell of the BBC

But it was what happened late in the afternoon that underlined the grave risk to the government of losing ground in what is Syria's largest city and its economic capital.
First came an unmistakeable sound that has so far been absent in this conflict - the roar of fighter jets.
What appeared to be Russian-made MiG planes arced through the sky. We watched as they dropped in, bombing and strafing rebel positions.

A number of videos supposedly from Aleppo showing aircraft flying through the sky, for example this one from Bambuser and this one from Youtube, and are generally pretty unclear, so making out the shape of the aircraft is difficult. However, one video has been posted that has a great shot of the aircraft

I've blown up this screengrab to get a clear idea of the silhouette of the aircraft

Let's compare that to some of the aircraft listed as being used by the Syrian Air Force, first the various MiGs

The above two aircraft are a MiG-21 and MiG-29, both of which clear have wings that look nothing like the aircraft in the videos. Then we have MiG-23 and Su-24, with variable geometry wings

To me it looks like the wings are too thin, and set too far back, plus it appears in the video there's something on the end of the wings, and what I believe we are seeing in the video is an Aero L-39 Albatros

Here's a clearer top down view which we can compare to the still from the video

So in this case it seems likely that what we're seeing in the above video is not a MiG, but a jet training aircraft being used to attack targets in Aleppo. The question is, why?

Update - After some discussion of whether or not it could be a SU-25 (which I believe the Syrian Air Force doesn't have) Tim Robinson, editor of Aerospace International, Tweeted to say

Its a L-39. Straight wings, wingtip fuel tanks, & longer nose than Su-25.

Update - HamaEcho sent me a second clip from Aleppo that seems to clearly show an L-39

And as yet there's been no video evidence of any other fixed-wing aircraft being used.

Update - Another video showing a L-39 over Aleppo

The excellent Aviationist blog has also taken a look at this and also come to the same conclusions.

Update July 28th - Two more videos have been posted showing the L-39 flying over Aleppo in the opening stages of the Syrian Army's attack on the FSA inside the city